With 189 member countries, staff from more 170 countries, and offices in over 130 locations, the World Bank Group is a unique global partnership: five institutions working for sustainable solutions that reduce poverty and build shared prosperity in developing countries.

Experts And Leaders

The World Bank Group works in every major area of development. We provide a wide array of financial products and technical assistance, and we help countries share and apply innovative knowledge and solutions to the challenges they face.

Country Groups

Global data and statistics, research and publications, and topics in poverty and development

We face big challenges to help the world’s poorest people and ensure that everyone sees benefits from economic growth. Data and research help us understand these challenges and set priorities, share knowledge of what works, and measure progress.

For Students and Learners

Meet Us

Search

The World Bank in Sudan maintains a portfolio of approximately $130 million across a range of areas, including education, health, agriculture, natural resource management, climate change, peace-building, and public financial management.

Overview

Sudan sits at the crossroads of Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East, its powerful neighbor, Egypt, bordering it to the north, Libya and Chad to the west, and Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east. Its capital, Khartoum, lies at the confluence of the White and Blue Niles, and its main port on the Red Sea. Although mostly desert, it has fertile land, mountains, and livestock.

The country has been beset by conflict for most of its independent history. Under the terms of a peace agreement in 2005, its southern states seceded, forming the Republic of South Sudan in 2011.

The secession of South Sudan induced multiple economic shocks. The most important and immediate was the loss of the oil revenue that accounted for over half of Sudan’s government revenue and 95% of its exports. This has left huge challenges, as well as much reduced economic growth, and resulted in double-digit consumer price inflation, which, together with increased fuel prices, triggered violent protests in September 2013.

South Sudan descended into civil war in December 2013 and its conflict continues to put pressure on Sudan, with about 460,000 people having sought safety with it, according to the United Nations, as well as a drastic reduction in cross-border oil flows. The famine that afflicted northern parts of South Sudan in mid-2017 caused a greater influx of refugees into Sudan as well.

Following the global oil price slump in 2015/2016, Sudan and South Sudan agreed to lower oil transit fees for South Sudanese oil via Sudan’s pipeline, as it became uneconomic to export it. In December 2016, they extended their 2012 agreement on oil for three years on the same terms, with the exception of provisions for the adjustment of transit fees in line with global oil prices.

Armed conflict in Sudan’s westernmost region of Darfur has subsided but many parts of the region remain precarious because of the proliferation of arms and banditry. Efforts to settle another conflict in South Kordofan and Blue Nile remain deadlocked.

Comprehensive US sanctions on Sudan, levied in 1997 and expanded in 2006, were eased in January 2017, allowing financial and trade transactions between US citizens and entities and their Sudanese counterparts. The suspension of sanctions was placed under a six-month review in order to determine whether the sanctions should be fully repealed. When that period ended in July, the U.S. administration extended it by three months, citing the need for more time to review it.

Away from oil, agriculture and livestock are essential to Sudan’s economic diversification and could contribute to medium-term macroeconomic stability. These sectors presently contribute approximately 35%–40% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), but could contribute significantly more with greater investment and better governance. Sudan now recognizes the need for greater attention to agriculture and livestock, as reflected in its Interim Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (I-PRSP) and the Five-year Program for Economic Reforms approved by its parliament in December 2014.

Sudan remains a highly-indebted country that has accumulated sizeable external arrears and has been in non-accrual status with the World Bank Group (WBG) since 1994. At the end of 2015, its external debt amounted to $50 billion (61% of GDP) in nominal terms, about 84% of which was in arrears. While the country is eligible for debt relief under the Highly-Indebted Poor Countries Initiative, it must come to an amicable understanding with its main creditors in partnership with South Sudan.

In November 2016, Sudan and South Sudan extended for two years their 2012 agreement on debt apportionment, whereby Sudan retains all the external liabilities after the secession of South Sudan, provided the international community gives firm commitments on the delivery of debt relief within two years. Without such commitment, Sudan’s external debt would be portioned out with South Sudan’s based on a formula that is yet to be determined.

Poverty and Social Developments

The main determinants of poverty in Sudan include: conflicts and a dependence on oil, which has resulted in the neglect of its agriculture and livestock sectors, as well as of alternative sources of energy. The unequal distribution of fiscal resources and access to natural resources; governance failures as reflected in poor policy credibility and implementation; and inadequate incentives for private sector investment and participation.

Last Updated: Oct 12, 2017

The overriding goal of the World Bank Group (WBG) is to support the reduction of extreme poverty and improve the prospects for more shared prosperity in Sudan. In this context, the WBG Interim Strategy Note (ISN) has been structured around two pillars: managing the economic transition; and addressing the socio-economic roots of conflict, with a crosscutting focus on governance and gender.

In its strategy for Sudan, the WBG continues to build a dynamic portfolio of projects, that now amount to $130 million, by mobilizing third-party financial resources (largely through Bank-managed multi-donor trust funds). While the short time frame of the ISN would not be long enough for monitoring poverty outcomes, the WBG together with the African Development Bank (AfDB) will support the production of a new round of poverty data, to be made available in 2015/16, as well as related analytical products to inform the full PRSP.

Given Sudan’s ongoing economic transition, the Bank’s technical assistance and knowledge resources will be key to guiding authorities in identifying a path toward inclusive and shared growth. These include a range of reports and analyses, such as Enabling the Business of Agriculture, the recently-updated Diagnostic Trade Integration Study, as well as the new Country Economic Memorandum.

Given Sudan’s current lack of access to IDA funding, the WBG program will continue to be resourced through trust funds, partnerships, and the Bank budget.

Last Updated: Oct 12, 2017

From 2005 to 2013, the World Bank Group’s engagement in Sudan was carried almost exclusively through the Sudan Multi-Donor Trust Fund- National (MDTF-NS). The results of the MDTF-NS include:

Education: The MDTF-NS was instrumental in boosting school enrollment for nearly 0.5 million pupils (49% girls) following the construction or rehabilitation of over 514 schools, three teacher training institutes, and the training of more than 11,000 teachers.

Health: In states with MDTF-NS activities, health facility data shows that between 2009 and the end of 2012, annual per person outpatient consultations increased from 0.16% to 0.30%; the share of pregnant women attending at least one antenatal care consultancy increased from 48% to 69%; and the proportion of total births attended by skilled health staff, including trained village midwives, increased from 19% to 51%.

Improving Gum Arabic production and marketing: Sudan is the world’s largest exporter of raw Gum Arabic, a food stabilizer used in soft drinks. It is a key sector for employment generation and poverty alleviation in Sudan’s rural areas, contributing about 15% to 25% to household income. The Revitalizing the Gum Arabic Production and Marketing Project supported some 130 Gum Arabic Producers’ Associations (almost 10% of the total number of GAPAs) and provided seed funds for production and marketing activities. The Improving Livestock Production and Marketing Project supported a series of pilot activities that addressed the priorities of pastoral communities in livestock production and marketing. As an example, six livestock markets and 28 watering points were constructed/rehabilitated, which contributed to an increase in the number of animal heads sold annually.

Community-Driven Development: Under the MTDF-supported Community Development Fund, local communities in four targeted states have strengthened and expanded their systems for the delivery of basic services. This has included 567 schools, 99 primary health care facilities, 163 water points, 26 community centers, and the construction/rehabilitation of 97 solar power installations benefitting more than two million people.

Following the closure of the MTDF, World Bank-managed projects continued to get results in a number of areas, including:

Peacebuilding: Conflict between different livelihood groups over scarce natural resources in Sudan’s peripheral regions is a major driver of fragility and instability. The Sudan Peacebuilding for Development Project implements a wide range of activities designed primarily to promote peace and reduce the incidence of violence between nomadic herders and sedentary farmers along livestock migration routes in Sudan’s strife-ridden regions of Darfur, South Kordofan, and Blue Nile. In areas where the project has intervened, the recorded number of violent incidents dropped to 430 in 2016, compared to 1,184 in 2013, 1,124 in 2014, and 663 in 2015.

Public Financial Management: Data drawn from the Sudan Budget Capacity Strengthening Project, which worked to improve budget revenues and credibility in four sub-national level states, indicates that two of those states had managed to collect a greater share of forecasted/budgeted revenues in the year following the project’s intervention.

Basic Education: Since it became effective in July 2013, the Sudan Basic Education Recovery Project has largely met its objectives for improving the learning environment and increasing the availability of textbooks in primary schools across targeted areas. The project printed and distributed 9.8 million textbooks, completed the construction of 478 classrooms and gave grants to 2,754 schools. School enrollment in the 11 sub-national states where the project implemented its activities has increased by 8%.

Last Updated: Oct 12, 2017

Albeit reduced in size following the closure of the $590 million Multi Donor Trust Fund – National in 2013, the World Bank’s (WB) footprint of investment and knowledge activities remains substantial. The current portfolio cuts across a range of key issues and includes several investment projects financed through the Global Partnership for Education, the Global Environment Facility, and the State and Peacebuilding Fund Strategic Initiative.

In 2014, the World Bank Group introduced the Sudan Multi-Partner Fund, with initial donor commitment of $11 million, met by an approximate $15 million in government financing. The SMPF enjoys support from the United Kingdom Department for International Development (UKAid) and Norway.